110m Euros and 1,900 jobs for the UK, a total of 340m Euros of investment across Europe
RenewableUK: ‘Manufacturing rebirth underway’
RenewableUK, the country’s leading renewable energy trade association, today welcomed General Electric’s announcement on investing 340 million Euros across Europe in the offshore wind sector, with a third planned for a UK based manufacturing facility. The investment is expected to create 1,900 jobs, and comes on the back of the Government’s £60 million Budget pledge for ports servicing the burgeoning UK offshore sector.
Dr. Gordon Edge, RenewableUK Director of Economics and Markets, said: “Towards the end of 2009 we have started seeing the first signs of a manufacturing rebirth around the UK’s offshore wind energy sector. Now that all Round 3 sites have been taken up and the potential scale of offshore developments stands at over 40 gigawatts, there is a palpable sense of opportunity.
Renewable UK has long maintained that strong and co-ordinated Government support for the UK to become the leading global centre of expertise for offshore wind energy can result in thriving manufacturing clusters and 57,000 jobs by 2020.
The fact that some of the world’s best known companies such as Mitsubishi and General Electric have now decided to invest in the UK and base their offshore operations here shows that such support pays dividends .”
